A/N: Sorry this is late, my brain slapped me with a desperate desire to write original fic and/or Star Wars fic, which basically means I got shit-all done and had to force myself sit down and write this. Hopefully the quality wasn't affected!
Also I totally dusted off a years-old tumblr account in procrastination of writing. No idea what I'll do with it, cause literally all I use my facebook for is complaining about how I should be writing, and occasionally tagging people in random things. So, I guess if anyone has tumblr and wants to watch me complain about how I should be writing, while blatantly NOT writing, I'm clenastia over there. I think the blog is titled Imagination's Sanctuary, cause I haven't renamed it from my teenage years. Should call it Procrastination Sanctuary probably, it's more accurate…
ALSO NATSU'S NECK SCAR BECAME TEMPORARILY RELEVANT HERE SO I GOOGLED HOW HE GOT IT AND THE ANSWER IS STUPID SO I'M GOING WITH MY HEADCANON FITE ME.
Seriously though. Scars don't come from scratches! Especially big ones like that! I haven't seen the OVA in question, so maybe it makes more sense in context, but the idea that Natsu would hurt his childhood self THAT badly is way too extreme. Like, Natsu attacking his younger self I can understand. But necks are delicate places. THAT much damage on the neck? Enough to scar that big? The risk of accidentally killing a child with that much force is huge! SO FLUCK THAT YOU GUYS GET MY HEADCANON INSTEAD.
And in response to the Guest reviewer (sorry this AN is getting long you guys), Sasuke awakened his Sharingan during the fight, which is how he can see. Even magic mist isn't invisibility-granting, it just makes it very hard to see. So enhanced vision via magic eyeballs makes it a bit easier. As for Naruto… he's just spamming clones. He can't see shit (though his hearing and scenting are better than a normal person's, he's not on Natsu's level and has never really trained to fight by that either), and he does get hit a few times. But Sasuke's watching his back, however reluctantly, the kyuubi heals him rapidly, and with all the clones making it hard to find the real one, his lack of ability to see what's going on isn't that big a deal - especially since only Zabuza's clones attacked them. The real Zabuza mostly fought Kakashi, only turning away once, to attack Natsu instead. All of this took place off-screen though. I actually thought about writing the fight from say, one of the others' POVs, but then we wouldn't know what Natsu was doing. And I didn't want to write that fight twice, so instead there were just hints to what happened to Naruto and Sasuke.
Anyway, thanks for reading! And if anyone knows why people are buying all the toilet paper, please explain it to me because I really don't understand! WHAT DO VIRUSES HAVE TO DO WITH TOILET PAPER I'M SO CONFUSED.
Natsu blinks to awareness with the scent of sakura petals filling the air. He sighs, unsurprised. "Should probably find Sakura-chan…" he mutters, staring up at the pink petals that line the clearing. He doesn't move though, staring sightlessly.
"That fight was so stupid. I could see him! I should have been able to keep up! Agh!" rolling over, he groans into the grass. Even with his nose pressed against the dirt, all he smells is sakura petals.
Natsu sighs as he pushes himself up.
"I thought I was making good progress…" he mutters, stretching for a moment, "but if that's the level of fighting I'm dealing with here, I've still got so far to go… ah!"
Turning, he walks quickly in the direction of Sakura's cabin, arriving unusually quickly. "Time's as weird as ever here…" he mutters as he walks up to the window. Sakura is already waiting, fingering the edges of a scar that peek out from under the sleeve of her dress.
"We got hurt?" she asks, not looking up as she traces her fingers up and down the silvery line.
Natsu grimaces. "Sorry. I-"
Sakura shakes her head, still not looking up. "Kaa-san will cry, won't she?" she shakes her head again, "no, I'm sorry. I'm not accusing you. I-I guess I just never thought of my first battle scar before… I know lots of shinobi have them, even Kakashi-sensei, I just never thought-" Sakura sighs, and looks up. Natsu won't admit to the relief that fills him when he realizes she isn't crying. "You've got one too, right?" Sakura asks, eyes filled with some sort of determination. "On your neck." her hand drifts over to mirror where Natsu knows his own scar rests, and he slips his scarf off easily.
"Yeah, I'm surprised you remember! I've only taken my scarf off once!"
Sakura blushes, looking down. "W-well, it's just- I mean- y-you were running around without a shirt on, of course I noticed the scar!"
Natsu glances down, at his vest that could only loosely be described as a shirt, then back up at her.
"Oh you know what I mean! Shut up!" she crosses her arms and glares. Natsu laughs as he steps forward and plops down in front of the window. Igneel's scarf pools in his lap, and Sakura-chan scoots a little closer.
"How did you get it?" she asks softly, and Natsu grimaces.
"I… don't actually remember. I've had it forever, since even before Igneel. But I always get this feeling, if I stare at it too much… I dunno, it always felt like remembering something scary, but I can't actually remember anything. I never thought to ask Igneel… he had lots of scars himself, and I used to ask about 'em, and he said he didn't remember a lot, and so I just thought it was a normal thing, forgetting scars. And now…" he shrugs, leaning back to stare up at the slats of the overhang.
"Now you can't ask, huh?" Sakura muses, and Natsu fights back a wince.
You have no idea…
"W-well! At least you didn't give me a matching throat scar, kaa-san would freak! An arm isn't too big a deal… how'd it happen?"
Natsu looks down, to see Sakura staring curiously. He shrugs. "The client lied about the mission rank, and that Zabu-guy was practically on Kakashi's level, or at least he was good enough to land some hits on sensei. But at one point, I'm not sure what happened, but he left Kakashi and came after me, and he's fast. Way faster than I was, which was annoying, I'm better than this! I only barely kept him from stabbing us in the throat, it was way too close! But then some kimi-hunter nin or something showed up and killed the guy, I guess? And then I was here."
"O-oh. I suppose you didn't get any of your chakra back?"
"Huh?" Natsu bolts upright, fingers grasping the windowsill. "I… earlier today, before the fight with that Zabu-guy, I thought I felt my chakra, for a second, but it was gone so quick… Did you manage to do something?"
Sakura nods, face splitting into a wide grin. "Yeah! I've been trying that door at random times, and with a whole bunch of different things, and at one point the door got really really hot, it actually started to affect my kunai! That shouldn't even be possible, since it's a Memory Container, but it literally started to melt, for just a second! I didn't want to know what would happen if it got destroyed, so I backed off, but I could still feel the heat, and I know your chakra's really strongly aligned to fire, so I hoped…"
Natsu nods. "Yeah, I definitely felt my fire for a second or two - it was gone so quick I'd wondered if I was imagining things, but if even you felt something…" he pushes himself to his feet, casually re-wrapping his scarf.
"I'm gonna see if I can make myself wake up. Normally I'd stick around, but I know Kakashi wanted to turn back and abandon the mission originally, and if I stay out for too long he might actually decide to. Don't hurt yourself Sakura-chan!"
He offers a casual wave, then closes his eyes and focuses. Sakura offers her own goodbye, as he tries to find the threads back to his- her body, and it takes longer than normal, but not much, and he soon feels the world falling around him.
The first thing he feels upon waking is pain. His shoulder is by far the worst, a burning lance of fire with every breath, but everything is sore, even his face throbbing in time with his pulse, and Natsu fights off a groan.
The second thing he notices is the layered breathing, that takes him a moment to place.
Is… Kakashi breathing in time with Naruto?
Slowly, he cracks open his eyes, and looks around until he sees them both. Naruto lays curled under a blanket, Kakashi reclining against the wall, facing the door, and clearly asleep, subconsciously masking his breathing under Naruto's louder snores. Natsu sits up slowly, left arm tucked against his stomach to keep it from moving as he quietly leverages to his feet. Naruto doesn't so much as twitch, but a feeling of alertness shapes around Kakashi, and Natsu groans silently.
"I'm fine," he grumbles quietly, stepping around the sleeping blond and towards the door, "just hungry."
"You shouldn't be moving." Kakashi whispers, and Natsu rolls his eyes.
"I know my limits. Where are the packs?"
Kakashi gives him a skeptical look, but doesn't contradict him. "Sasuke's taking the first watch, I left your packs with him since we don't have any other food right now. I have some ration bars though."
Natsu shakes his head. "I'll go get mine-" Kakashi narrows his eye, and Natsu sighs, "Seriously, I'm fine, and I can walk outside and grab something to eat without dying. Sheesh. If you've got second watch, you should go back to sleep."
"Hmm." Kakashi makes a disbelieving sound, but doesn't stop Natsu as he turns and walks out. Natsu closes the door silently behind him, following old scents down a flight of stairs and out a door into fresh air. It smells a bit like home, salty seaside air only missing the bustling cityscape of Magnolia to feel right-
He sighs, padding barefoot around the house until he gets to a low corner of the roof. He glances up, and meets Sasuke's red-and-black eyes in the night.
"Hn." the Uchiha mutters, staring down at him, "You're up?"
"Just came here for my pack. Kakashi said you have it?" Sasuke disappears, just another shadow in the night, and Natsu hears near-silent rustling, before his pack comes sailing over the roof. He slides back a step, catching the straps with his good arm, and glares.
"Jerk." he mutters, dropping the pack to the ground and rooting out a ration bar. He tears the wrapping open with his teeth, eating one-handed. Sasuke comes back into view, eyes narrowed.
"I don't need company."
Natsu rolls his eyes. "Sucks to be you, I'm not leaving 'til I'm done." He mutters around a mouthful of food, and Sasuke scoffs, "What's wrong with you?" Natsu narrows his eyes, shoving more of the bar into his mouth. "Pretty sure you weren't this much of a jerk earlier."
"Hn."
Natsu crumples the wrapper into a ball and throws it at Sasuke, and watches mournfully as he catches it out of the air effortlessly. He digs out another ration bar and tears into it, half-wondering if the wrapper is edible. It'd satisfy that weird shinobi-paranoia thing, right? No traces left behind and whatnot?
"A-are you… eating the wrapper?" Sasuke asks, voice rising in shock. Natsu shrugs, and regrets it immediately as his shoulder burns sharply in reprimand.
He swallows around the pain, taking another bite. "It's actually… not bad? Tastes better than the ration bar itself, which isn't saying much…"
Sasuke's eyes travel incredulously from the wrapper still in his hand to Natsu and back, and the Dragon Slayer grins.
"Give it a shot! 'Nless you're chicken." he goads, taking another large bite as he meets Sasuke's eyes.
Sasuke glares at him, and Natsu's pretty sure something in his eyes spins a little, before the Uchiha huffs. Natsu's actually a little surprised when Sasuke actually does eat the wrapper, cause he wasn't lying but Sasuke's not actually half as easy to goad as he looks, unless you're trying to goad him into a fight… He makes a weird face as he chews, but doesn't spit it out, and Natsu counts that as a win.
"Why is it even edible?" Sasuke mutters as Natsu kneels to close up the pack. He slings it over his right shoulder as he stands.
"I just sorta thought, you shinobi are so paranoid, you wouldn't want to leave wrappers laying around as traces, right? So I just took a bite to see…" Natsu grins up at his teammate, and Sasuke rolls his eyes.
"Go back to bed."
"Fine, fine, I'm going. Sheesh, you're all a bunch of worry-warts." He turns and walks back to the front door, slipping inside and back up to the room he woke up in.
Kakashi's eye cracks open as he slips in, and follows him all the way to his bedroll. Natsu rolls his eyes, and gingerly settles down. Really he'd rather sprawl out like he normally does when he sleeps, but the pain in his arm is so unusually intense, he's beginning to wonder if pain tolerance is as much physical as mental and Sakura-chan just doesn't have it. He grumbles to himself as he gets situated, because dammit that's annoying!
The pain fades into something ignorable once he stops moving, steadily throbbing in time with his heartbeat and breathing, but sleep comes as easily as ever regardless.
If he dreams, he doesn't remember it.
Everything hurts just as much waking up the second time as it did the first, and Natsu mourns the lack of Wendy's magic. He sits up, glancing around, and Naruto's still asleep but Sasuke is sitting where Kakashi was before, looking like he hasn't slept at all.
He looks away when Natsu stares questioningly, and the Dragon Slayer huffs, pushing himself to his feet and glancing down at his arm. The qipao is torn open, white highlights stained red with blood, and his entire arm is coated in dried flakes that seems only half-cleared away.
"Ah, you're awake! Good!" Kakashi beams at them, suddenly in the room, though the door remains shut. Naruto bolts awake with a yelp, looking around wildly.
Natsu braces himself as the blond's eyes land on him and widen.
"Natsu!" He lunges forward, arms spread, only for Kakashi to catch him by the back of the jacket.
"Maa, Naruto-kun, you shouldn't be so reckless."
"Huh- erk! Ah! I'm so sorry, I didn't think, you're okay, right?" he spits out in a rush, and Natsu laughs.
"It looks worse than it is, promise-"
"Liar!" Kakashi chirps cheerily, and Natsu glares at him.
"I am not, it won't even scar that bad-"
"And how do you know that?"
Natsu blinks, taken aback. "I mean, Sakura-chan and I chatted last night, and she already had a scar on her arm, but it wasn't even half as bad as mine, really it was just thin, I mean you can't miss it, but it doesn't exactly stand out either. I just figured the scar she had in the mindscape was the same the scar would be once it healed."
"Hmm? Is Sakura-chan alright?"
Even Sasuke looks over, and Natsu realizes he's never really mentioned his regular chats with Sakura-chan before. He shrugs his good shoulder.
"She's fine. We chatted a bit... about scars mainly, and the pretty epic one I've got. She seemed okay, or, well, as good as she can be like this..." Natsu trails off, considering his next words, "and then I decided to make myself wake up, since I was sure you'd turn around and head back to Konoha if I stayed unconscious for too long, and then I was so hungry…"
"Natsu has scars?" Naruto asks, wiggling out of Kakashi's grip and darting forward, eyes squinted. Natsu rolls his eyes.
"You're not gonna see my scars by studying Sakura-chan's body, you know."
Naruto crosses his arms. "Then how can Sakura-chan see them?"
Natsu blinks, staring. "W-well… because in the mindscape, both of us appear as ourselves?"
"So you mean Sakura-chan knows what you really look like and I don't?!" Naruto cries dramatically, and Natsu stares in confusion.
"I mean… yeah?"
"Unfair!"
Natsu glances at Sasuke, because he's lost, but even the Uchiha looks mildly curious, and the Dragon Slayer can't help but groan.
"Fine, fine, gimme a sec…" he mutters, stepping away and carefully making the handsigns for the henge, moving his shoulder as little as possible. He didn't bother to henge into himself back when he was learning it, just copied Kakashi's form like the man said, but it comes as easy as breathing now.
The henge ripples around him, a filmy illusion that he can feel clinging to his skin as it settles into his form.
"Wha- you're old!"
"I'm what, eighteen? That's not old!" Natsu argues, and Sasuke makes a disbelieving noise.
"I never doubted you were twelve." he says, and Natsu glares at him.
The Uchiha just raises an eyebrow in return.
"But where's your scar?" Naruto asks, standing on tiptoe to try and peer into Natsu's face, and the pinkette laughs a bit.
It feels weird, reaching up to pull away a scarf that doesn't actually exist. He can't feel anything under his fingers, because he isn't wearing anything, even though the illusion is, but he mimes the motion, sliding the scarf loose enough that the thick scar on his throat is clearly visible.
Kakashi's eye widens.
"You survived that?" he questions, voice only projecting idle curiosity, but for some reason, Natsu feels like he's taking the question very seriously.
"I mean, I'm alive, aren't I? I've had this for as long as I can remember, really. I don't actually remember anything from like, before the age of five or so, but I've had it since at least then. Why?"
"Hmm, no reason... Now!" Kakashi claps his hands together, grinning. "Our hosts have graciously offered us breakfast, so let's head down and eat, and then we'll see about some more training for you lot. Just cause this mission's gone a little sideways doesn't mean you get to slack off, after all!"
Sakura's chakra ripples as Natsu lets go of it, the illusion dispersing in a wisp of smoke, and he turns toward the door. "What kind of training? Cause if you're gonna have me drilling handsigns again…" he groans in Kakashi's direction as he walks out, and the man chuckles.
"Oh no, don't worry. Though that does remind me… Naruto, Sasuke, go on ahead. I'll need to change Natsu's bandages first."
"Hn."
"I can help!"
Kakashi shakes his head, pushing Naruto away. "Go eat, we'll only be a couple minutes. Come on, the bathroom's this way."
Kakashi gestures him to a stool as he pulls out a medkit from somewhere way too tiny to hold a medkit!
Natsu narrows his eyes suspiciously, and Kakashi huffs a laugh. "Storage seals, Natsu-kun. Much easier to carry around than large, bulky packs. Now sit still."
"I can take off my own clothes," Natsu mutters as Kakashi undoes the fastenings of the qipao and pulls it down, baring the large swath of bandages wrapping around his torso.
Kakashi only hmms mildly as he starts unwrapping the bandages, pressing a wet rag against them a couple times to loosen the dried blood.
"You've never fought that well in any of our team spars." Kakashi says idly after a minute, as he gently rubs a salve into the wounds. Natsu has to consciously suppress the urge to shrug.
"I guess not? I mean, it's just a thing that happens, really."
"You randomly getting strong is 'just a thing that happens'?" his disbelief is clear, and Natsu gets the feeling that if he doesn't explain, Kakashi will come to a bad conclusion.
He grimaces, because he's never actually had to explain though, and he doesn't have the first idea of where to start.
"It's… a side-effect of my magic?"
Kakashi's eyebrow lifts. "Your spiritual chakra?"
"Spiritual chakra? What, you mean there's more than one kind of chakra?"
Kakashi's hands freeze their process of rebandaging the wound.
"Ah- you don't… know? Chakra is comprised of two seperate energies. Physical and Spiritual. Physical chakra is the chakra of the body, and spiritual chakra is the chakra of the mind. Mixing them together is what gives us the power we use to perform our jutsu and techniques."
"Ah!" Natsu jerks to his feet, wide-eyed. "You mean the reason Sakura-chan's chakra feels so thick and slow is cause I'm used to only using half of it?!"
"I've… never heard of jutsu that use pure spiritual chakra…" Kakashi says slowly, tugging Natsu back down to finish with the bandages.
"I never knew there were two different kinds of energy in the first place! It all makes sense now!"
"Hmm. So, you said your sudden increase in skill was due to your spiritual chakra?"
"Yeah… I… that is, when my emotions get intense, I always get stronger. It's normal. I don't really know how to explain it, it's just a side-effect of my… training, I guess? I'm always stronger fighting real enemies than I am sparring or fighting for fun. Even the others who fight like I do are like that, it's just how our power works… we're always stronger in real fights than we are in spars. If that makes sense?"
"Not really," Kakashi admits, standing up and turning to the sink. He comes back with a clean rag, and slowly begins to clean the rest of the blood off Natsu's arm and chest. The pinkette scowls. "I've never heard of anything like that, at any rate, though I've never heard of anyone who used pure spiritual chakra before either… I guess it's not impossible, as some people actually can fight with pure physical chakra, so realistically the opposite should be true as well, but, maa…" he trails off, lone eye checking Natsu up and down. "Will you need help changing into a fresh outfit?"
Natsu scowls, shaking his head rapidly. "I'm good! But I didn't bring-" he cuts off as Kakashi whips out a qipao with a flourish.
"I grabbed it for you." he says with a grin, dropping it on the counter and disappearing in a flurry of wind.
Natsu grumbles curses under his breath as he closes the bathroom door and fights the rest of his clothes off one-handed.
...so, if I figured out how to separate Sakura-chan's chakra, could I use my magic like normal then?
Heh, only one way to find out!